Rapid Responses to:

EDITOR'S CHOICE: Fiona Godlee Performance matters BMJ 2005; 330: 0-g [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

Foot draggers

A.A.W. Amarasinghe,M.D.,   (27 June 2005)

Meningitis:Lessons From Some Recent Negligence Cases

Jay Ilangaratne   (1 July 2005)

Foot draggers 27 June 2005
A.A.W. Amarasinghe,M.D.,, ConsultantPsychiatrist 102, Bayberry Hill, McDonough, Georgia 30253 USA Send response to journal: Re: Foot draggers	" Revalidation " is an eventual inevitability. How many more incompetencies, scandals, cover-ups etc. are to be endured before the foot dragging terminates? Competing interests: None declared
Meningitis:Lessons From Some Recent Negligence Cases 1 July 2005
Jay Ilangaratne, Founder medical-journals.com Send response to journal: Re: Meningitis:Lessons From Some Recent Negligence Cases	I think it would be a good idea for doctors in general,and GPs in particular,to apprise themselves of legal dilemmas they may have to face in the diagnosis/treatment of meningitis. The followiing recent judgments[1],[2] of the High Court illustrate the difficulties that doctors may encounter in the diagnosis of meningitis in community and hospital settings.Further,the same judgments also provide useful commentaries of the legal tests applied in such circumstances in relation to claims of negligence.Perhaps, doctors should be regularly kept informed of such medicolegal issues, as such information is likely to have wider beneficial effects on patients, doctors themselves and their liability insurers. References [1]Brown v Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority & Others [2005] EWHC 1098(QB) (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2005/1098.html) [2]McDonnell V Dr Holwerda [2005] EWHC 108(QB) (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2005/1081.html) JS@medical-journals.com Competing interests: None declared